Having problems with message search?
Hey Kidz,
Been busy lately on working on the Mother’s Day comp, but we got it up for you for free in plenty of time at www.silbermedia.com/comp/mom The artists appearing are: Wrong Brothers, Remora, Glissade, Blessed Child Opera, Plumerai, Moral Crayfish, Lauri des Marais, Century of Aeroplanes, Electric Bird Noise, Miss Massive Snowflake, & Origami Galaktika.
Please spread the word.
Remora’s new EP “songs i sing” on North Pole Records just came in & we’ll have a link up so you all can buy it & give you some more info soon.
Working on some interviews about balancing the life of an artist/musician with fatherhood & I’m really interested in finding some more dads who made a clear break from semi-professional artistic careers for family life, so if any of you have any relatives that fit the bill, let me know.
Below are some recent reviews.
hrt
Brian John Mitchell
Brian John Mitchell
VLOR: A FIRE IS MEANT FOR BURNING
Brian John Mitchell is one bummed-out guy. Even his instrumentals have that "I have been crushed totally & completely" vibe. 8/10.
~ Neddal Ayad, Foxy Digitalis
Brian John Mitchell is one bummed-out guy. Even his instrumentals have that "I have been crushed totally & completely" vibe. 8/10.
~ Neddal Ayad, Foxy Digitalis
ALAN SPARHAWK: SOLO GUITAR
Low's guitarist delivers a acrid, desolate, yet georgousely tortured sounding soundscape that could easily belong in an unnamed genre section of the store that would include hex-era Earth, Feedback-era Boris, and all-era Woven Hand.
~ Anthem Records
Low's guitarist delivers a acrid, desolate, yet georgousely tortured sounding soundscape that could easily belong in an unnamed genre section of the store that would include hex-era Earth, Feedback-era Boris, and all-era Woven Hand.
~ Anthem Records
While the four part conceptual thing about a freighter entering a harbour is nice, "Eruption by Eddie Van Halen" makes the disc. 9/10.
~ Neddal Ayad, Foxy Digitalis
~ Neddal Ayad, Foxy Digitalis
What is there to say about Alan Sparhawk's audioscapes? As they are (thankfully) labeled obviously, listeners of Solo Guitar (or its alternate title, printed on the CD itself, Alan Sparhawk Does Not Play in the N.H.L.) will get to hear the guitarist of Low take turns coaxing and beating sounds out of his instrument to create sounds that resemble their titles rather well. On "how a freighter comes into the harbour," which is not the best track but the most obvious, Sparhawk spells out the fog horns, then subtly adds other sounds - waves breaking lightly against the bow and so forth.
However, most intriguing here is how Sparhawk allows silence to dominate Solo Guitar, and as his very forceful brush strokes fade into nothing the listener is treated to a more interactive experience. As silence rushes in, on the edge of music and a blank CD, we begin to hear the minute sounds, some there and some not. On "how a freighter comes into the harbour," we begin to hear the gulls, the creaking of maritime wood, the fog, an increasingly ephemeral exercise that continues until we may very well be sitting on the stern of said freighter, smoking a pipe alongside a wordless captain.
Solo Guitar will surely offer an interesting listen, especially for those fans of minimalism stripped down to it's very marrow. Alan Sparhawk may not have created something that the average music consumer will accepts, but he has once again established himself as an artist and a sort of guitar anti-hero, letting echoes reign where arpeggios could have been.
~ Christopher Langer, The Spill Magazine
However, most intriguing here is how Sparhawk allows silence to dominate Solo Guitar, and as his very forceful brush strokes fade into nothing the listener is treated to a more interactive experience. As silence rushes in, on the edge of music and a blank CD, we begin to hear the minute sounds, some there and some not. On "how a freighter comes into the harbour," we begin to hear the gulls, the creaking of maritime wood, the fog, an increasingly ephemeral exercise that continues until we may very well be sitting on the stern of said freighter, smoking a pipe alongside a wordless captain.
Solo Guitar will surely offer an interesting listen, especially for those fans of minimalism stripped down to it's very marrow. Alan Sparhawk may not have created something that the average music consumer will accepts, but he has once again established himself as an artist and a sort of guitar anti-hero, letting echoes reign where arpeggios could have been.
~ Christopher Langer, The Spill Magazine
BLACK HAPPY DAY: IN THE GARDEN OF THE GHOSTFLOWERS
Black Happy Day is a collaboration between Tara Vanflower of the ambient influenced goth rockers Lycia and Timothy Renner of the acid folksters Stone Breath. And that little bit of information alone gives you an idea of what the music sounds like. In the Garden of Ghost Flowers is a combination of haunting, psychedelic folk and moody experimental soundscapes.
The duo succeeds on both counts, especially on the more avant-garde ambient front, as on the amazing (though somewhat unfortunately titled) Whore, which combines Spartan electronics with Tara’s haunting voice to excellent effect. Of the Wind and Loneliness is a strange and haunting soundscape as well, utilizing a xylophone-like sound along with both performers voices, and has a touch of Rosemary’s Baby soundtrack ambience to it. Very creepy! And the lengthy How Many Hours Till the Spider’s Work Is Done is a deep and spacey meditation of weird, backwards sitar and ghostly voices.
On the freak folk front are tripped out songs like the title track with its multiple layers of voices and lo-fi acoustic guitar creating a dreamy, mist shrouded space and the damaged, Comus inspired How the Weep and Moan, which needless to say is somewhat disturbing! It’s not all dark though. The album ends on two brighter notes with the surprisingly beautiful and even romantic Hand In Hand and the droning and spiritual Be Thou My Vision, the latter seemingly heralding the sunrise after the long dark night of the soul.
In the Garden of Ghostflowers took a few listens before I started getting into it. But it has this seductive pull to it that slowly but inexorably draws you into its hidden little world. Give it a chance, and you’ll find yourself dancing in the garden too.
~ Jeff Fitzgerald, Aural Innovations
Black Happy Day is a collaboration between Tara Vanflower of the ambient influenced goth rockers Lycia and Timothy Renner of the acid folksters Stone Breath. And that little bit of information alone gives you an idea of what the music sounds like. In the Garden of Ghost Flowers is a combination of haunting, psychedelic folk and moody experimental soundscapes.
The duo succeeds on both counts, especially on the more avant-garde ambient front, as on the amazing (though somewhat unfortunately titled) Whore, which combines Spartan electronics with Tara’s haunting voice to excellent effect. Of the Wind and Loneliness is a strange and haunting soundscape as well, utilizing a xylophone-like sound along with both performers voices, and has a touch of Rosemary’s Baby soundtrack ambience to it. Very creepy! And the lengthy How Many Hours Till the Spider’s Work Is Done is a deep and spacey meditation of weird, backwards sitar and ghostly voices.
On the freak folk front are tripped out songs like the title track with its multiple layers of voices and lo-fi acoustic guitar creating a dreamy, mist shrouded space and the damaged, Comus inspired How the Weep and Moan, which needless to say is somewhat disturbing! It’s not all dark though. The album ends on two brighter notes with the surprisingly beautiful and even romantic Hand In Hand and the droning and spiritual Be Thou My Vision, the latter seemingly heralding the sunrise after the long dark night of the soul.
In the Garden of Ghostflowers took a few listens before I started getting into it. But it has this seductive pull to it that slowly but inexorably draws you into its hidden little world. Give it a chance, and you’ll find yourself dancing in the garden too.
~ Jeff Fitzgerald, Aural Innovations
PLUMERAI: RES COGITANS
According to their press release, the name Plumerai "comes from a French lullaby about depluming a bird". Interesting name for an interesting band, that despite the lack of feathers, they demonstrate they can still take flight. Although Ses Cogitans is only 4 tracks long, each song is longer than the average with, "Avernal" lasting about 7 minutes. After two years of instability, the four-member band has solidified their sound and declared this 2007 EP to be their true debut album.
Fronted by a female vocalist, Elizabeth Ezell delivers her raw feminine tones, resembling at times like a sexed up Bjork, ending her lines in subtle quirky vibrato. The keyboards, guitar, bass and drums converge in good chemistry, emitting their influential roots-80's punk and alternative-to create dark, mysterious, enchanting modern rock. Their raw energy is captured in their production process by focusing on greater live recording with minor overdubs. And this steer away for that studio perfect sound is rather quite perfect for them.
My ears welcome the long musical breaks with my favourite found in the last few minutes of "Avernal" where instrumental noise entwine to blood pumping climax, sounding appropriate for a Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
~ cAthy Lee, The Spill Magazine
According to their press release, the name Plumerai "comes from a French lullaby about depluming a bird". Interesting name for an interesting band, that despite the lack of feathers, they demonstrate they can still take flight. Although Ses Cogitans is only 4 tracks long, each song is longer than the average with, "Avernal" lasting about 7 minutes. After two years of instability, the four-member band has solidified their sound and declared this 2007 EP to be their true debut album.
Fronted by a female vocalist, Elizabeth Ezell delivers her raw feminine tones, resembling at times like a sexed up Bjork, ending her lines in subtle quirky vibrato. The keyboards, guitar, bass and drums converge in good chemistry, emitting their influential roots-80's punk and alternative-to create dark, mysterious, enchanting modern rock. Their raw energy is captured in their production process by focusing on greater live recording with minor overdubs. And this steer away for that studio perfect sound is rather quite perfect for them.
My ears welcome the long musical breaks with my favourite found in the last few minutes of "Avernal" where instrumental noise entwine to blood pumping climax, sounding appropriate for a Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
~ cAthy Lee, The Spill Magazine
Plumerai is a Boston-based post-pop band that specializes in "shoe-gazing guitars, tight drumming... everything you could want from pop-oriented music," according to their press release. A scant four songs comprise Res Cogitans, the band's latest release. The album begins with "Avernal," which sounds as if it were 80s dream pop laden with French house vocals and drums. "Linear" and "Illuminata" are more upbeat rock songs that seem to update the shoegaze to which this band obviously looks for guidance. "En Vole," the clincher, is a poppy, yet dark number. Both violin and piano work to give it an almost cinematic feel. Res Cogitans is an enjoyable mix of energetic guitars, lethargic vocals, and relaxing instrumental passages - a mix which makes the band seem like a group searching (successfully) for their artistic and acoustic niche.
~ RC, Melisma Magazine
~ RC, Melisma Magazine
LYCIA: THE BURNING CIRCLE AND THEN DUST
This re-issue of The Burning Circle combines the original two-disc release into a single CD. The Album has been entirely re-mastered & the improvement in sound quality is nothing short of amazing. Mike VanPortfleet took an already amazing album & made its overall sound blend in perfectly with the rest of the Lycia catalogue. If you own the original, you truly want to add this reissued version to your collection. The boost in production is heart wrenching, making this album be the perfect release it was originally intended to be. A must have for all our readers.
~ Poseidon, Gothic Beauty
This re-issue of The Burning Circle combines the original two-disc release into a single CD. The Album has been entirely re-mastered & the improvement in sound quality is nothing short of amazing. Mike VanPortfleet took an already amazing album & made its overall sound blend in perfectly with the rest of the Lycia catalogue. If you own the original, you truly want to add this reissued version to your collection. The boost in production is heart wrenching, making this album be the perfect release it was originally intended to be. A must have for all our readers.
~ Poseidon, Gothic Beauty
LOST KISSES/XO/WORMS
I've always been a big fan of mini-comics. Spending time in the early 90s in Boston meant that every record shop, comic shop, penthouse and outhouse in a 5 mile radius carried tons of them, usually for a price so low you wouldn't blink to pay it, and get tons of reading value out of them. More to the point, with these comics you really could "see the brushstrokes" and get some real kicks out of seeing the work in progress, and know that someone out there had your own brand of odd humor. However, I never imagined that I'd see mini-comics as small as this output from Silber media.
Looking to be about the size of a large business card, and fitting exactly one panel to a page, these 22-page beauties fit just about anywhere, and are a blast to read. All three were written by Brian John Mitchell, with Mitchell, doing the art on Lost Kisses, Gardner the work on XO and Traub on Worms. That's the cover to Worms #1 on the top left.
The books cover different genres, even in only 22-26 panels. Worms is a horror/thriller, about a girl whose home is invaded by people she really doesn't expect, XO is about a guy who can't stop killing people, and an opportunity gets served up to him, and Lost Kisses is a sad kind of love story. Lost kisses alone is worth the price of the package, as it's this alternately bitter, sometimes biting, sometimes regretful look at a guy who has a lost love die at an early age. They've both moved on, and years have passed, but he hasn't figured out who to blame/hate for her death. He goes through lots of stages in a pretty short time.
~ Bart Gerardi, Paperback Reader
I've always been a big fan of mini-comics. Spending time in the early 90s in Boston meant that every record shop, comic shop, penthouse and outhouse in a 5 mile radius carried tons of them, usually for a price so low you wouldn't blink to pay it, and get tons of reading value out of them. More to the point, with these comics you really could "see the brushstrokes" and get some real kicks out of seeing the work in progress, and know that someone out there had your own brand of odd humor. However, I never imagined that I'd see mini-comics as small as this output from Silber media.
Looking to be about the size of a large business card, and fitting exactly one panel to a page, these 22-page beauties fit just about anywhere, and are a blast to read. All three were written by Brian John Mitchell, with Mitchell, doing the art on Lost Kisses, Gardner the work on XO and Traub on Worms. That's the cover to Worms #1 on the top left.
The books cover different genres, even in only 22-26 panels. Worms is a horror/thriller, about a girl whose home is invaded by people she really doesn't expect, XO is about a guy who can't stop killing people, and an opportunity gets served up to him, and Lost Kisses is a sad kind of love story. Lost kisses alone is worth the price of the package, as it's this alternately bitter, sometimes biting, sometimes regretful look at a guy who has a lost love die at an early age. They've both moved on, and years have passed, but he hasn't figured out who to blame/hate for her death. He goes through lots of stages in a pretty short time.
~ Bart Gerardi, Paperback Reader
XO has strong human interactions and incredible drama. Lost Kisses #4 is a lot of philosophical insight of the world around us. Worms #1 contains a lot of mystery. It entices you to keep flipping the pages to see what is actually going on with the story. These cute little books are enjoyable to carry around in your back pocket and when boredom sits in, pull one out and ENJOY!
~ Paul Dale Roberts, Jazma Online
~ Paul Dale Roberts, Jazma Online
See what's free at AOL.com.
Offline 
Send Email